


Making Constellations

by RobinPlaysTrumpet15



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Episode: s07e10 The Phantom Apprentice, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Rex is a good big brother, Stars, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:35:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23915434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinPlaysTrumpet15/pseuds/RobinPlaysTrumpet15
Summary: Rex is there for hisvod'ikaafter everything is over.
Relationships: CT-5597 | Jesse & CT-7567 | Rex
Comments: 9
Kudos: 92





	Making Constellations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crab_Lad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crab_Lad/gifts).



> Written for Crab_Lad. I hope this lives up to your expectations. <3

Rex was almost the one to personally guard Maul once he’d been captured. He’d certainly _wanted_ to be one of those guards. Maul was dangerous, and Rex knew his own strengths and limits.

But then-

They’d landed. Maul was being dragged away by two Mandalorians, supposedly off to be held in as high-security a cell as possible. Rex was going to follow, even though his heart cried out for his _aliit_. He didn’t want to leave Ahsoka, but she needed time by herself for a moment. He didn’t want to leave his brothers, but sometimes duty had to come first.

Except then he’d caught sight of one of those familiar identical faces he’d never not be able to tell apart.

One of the gunships sat on the bridge, clearly out of commission, but acting as shelter for wounded troopers. Medics rushed about in their calm, but urgent way, treating blaster wounds and broken bones and other injuries as best they could.

Rex knew not all of those injuries could be helped by bacta or time in a medical tent.

His eye was drawn to the one man not being fretted over by a medic. He was missing his armor from the waist up, curled into himself with his arms around his knees. He hid his face, but Rex could still make out the telltale darkness of ink on the man’s head. The Republic cog.

Jesse.

Suddenly Rex didn’t give a damn about Maul. He couldn’t care about him any less at that moment. Rex may be a ~~Captain~~ Commander of the GAR with duties to attend to and troops to command. But before that, he was a brother. He was an _ori’vod_ with a little brother to take care of, who’d just gone through a form of hell most of them couldn’t imagine.

Rex changed his course before he’d even consciously made the decision.

One of their youngest medics nearly paused in what he was doing when Rex approached, but he waved him off quickly. The kid had other things to take care of, rather than pretending protocol mattered. The second passed, and no one paid Rex much attention again.

He almost faltered less than a foot from Jesse. Even Rex didn’t know what he’d gone through. Jesse hadn’t said much before Rex had to leave him with the medical team.

His heart clenched painfully.

A hand tapped at Rex’s shoulder.

Their most senior medic, Sheer, stood at his side, leaning in close to be heard over the din of voices and lingering explosions in the distance.

“Take it slow and easy with him,” he said, voice low. “He hasn’t said much. Just be gentle.”

And, well, that was nothing Rex hadn’t already known. But having the confirmation from Sheer did help settle something like resolve into Rex’s core. He nodded once as the medic moved away to attend to someone else.

Rex looked back to Jesse, who only seemed to have curled himself into a tighter ball. He took a breath, reaching up and pulling off his helmet. He wouldn’t need it for this. He’d be better off without it.

He sat himself down on the floor of the gunship, keeping a few inches of space between himself and his _vod’ika_. Slowly, he reached out, tapping at the toe of Jesse’s boot.

Jesse jerked, tightening his arms around himself, not daring to look up.

But Rex just continued to tap out his careful rhythm.

_Dash dash dash. Dash dot dash._

OK.

_Dot dot dot dot. Dot. Dot dash dot. Dot._

HERE.

Slowly, hesitantly, one of Jesse’s hands unlatched from its place on his leg. The hand trembled as he reached for Rex, finding the hand on his foot. Jesse didn’t tap anything back to him, just felt across his gauntlet and then further up, over his bracer.

Rex let them move at Jesse’s pace, only grabbing the hand when it returned and began to thread their fingers together.

“Jesse,” he whispered. “It’s alright. I’m here.”

The man still didn’t lift his head, but Rex was able to catch the mumbled word said into armored knees.

“R-Rex?”

The quiet voice cracked, near-silent and whispered as it was. It pulled at Rex’s lungs and froze his diaphragm for the briefest of seconds. But he still couldn’t breathe. It still hurt.

_Stars_ , this was his _little brother_. His _friend_. Jesse was an ARC trooper. One of the 501st’s finest men. He was so strong, and this time-

This time, he’d really broken.

“Yeah, _vod_ ,” he said around a swallow. “It’s me.”

Jesse’s hand gripped Rex’s tighter. He didn’t speak again.

It broke Rex’s heart to see one of his men - one of his brothers - like this. His throat burned with the stinging tears in his eyes. They came fast and unbidden, blurring his sight and obscuring Jesse in the gray darkness of the gunship.

“I’m right here,” he said, ignoring the way the words caught half-way in his throat. “I promise.”

They sat there in silence for longer than Rex cared to pay attention. All he could focus on was Jesse and his own breaths. Holding Jesse’s hand and continuing to breathe.

Slowly, the post-battle commotion died down, all their attackers taken away and locked up in cells while the wounded were cared for.

Finally, Sheer slumped to the floor of the gunship in exhaustion. There was nothing else for him to do at the moment. They would have to move the wounded back up to the cruiser, but it wouldn’t be for a little while.

Rex wiped his face, clearing away the drying tear tracks on his cheeks.

“Sheer,” he called quietly, catching the medic’s attention. The man looked at him with a defeated expression, begging Rex to not give him any more work.

“Do you need him to stay here?” he asked, nodding towards Jesse.

Sheer shook his head silently.

“No, we checked him over. He’s fine, physically. We just didn’t have anywhere to send him earlier, and no one to put him with.” Sheer watched them with tired eyes.

Rex nodded seriously.

“I’ll take him,” he decided.

Sheer nodded in acknowledgement, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against durasteel to rest.

Rex squeezed Jesse’s hand as he moved up to his knees.

“Jesse, _vod’ika. Olaro ti ni_.”

Jesse finally lifted his head slightly, peeking up at Rex without fully looking at him.

“ _Vaii_?” His voice cracked, raw and scratchy.

“ _Mhi morut’yc. Gar morut’yc ti ni_.”

Jesse hesitated for a half second. Then he nodded, short and jerky, and began to uncurl himself from his ball. He let Rex pull him to his feet.

When they were standing, Rex debated with himself for a moment, unsure how much Jesse would allow. But then his little brother was leaning into his side and Rex’s decision was made for him. He tucked Jesse under his arm, keeping him close.

Rex knew where he wanted to take them. It wasn’t far. He didn’t want to be too far away just in case they needed help. But there was a spot not too far from the downed gunship-turned-medical station. Jesse stayed at his side the entire time as they walked along, stopping on a little terraced landing, still within eyesight and shouting distance of the others.

Any clouds that had been in the sky, whether they were natural or just smoke-haze, had begun to clear away. In their wake, they left the sky open and clear, showing off the dazzling, semi-unknown starry sky of Mandalore.

He sat them down together in the little grassy area. Jesse leaned heavily into his side, his head pillowed on Rex’s pauldron. It wasn’t the most comfortable, he was sure, but Jesse didn’t seem to care.

“Jess?” Rex urged after a few moments. “How are you doing?”

Jesse shrugged one shoulder.

“‘M fine.”

Not that he wanted to push, but-

“You sure?”

A pause. A brief, shuddered breath. Then his little brother shook his head.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Another head shake.

“Okay,” Rex sighed, settling in to get more comfortable. “That’s fine.”

Jesse’s hands fidgeted, rubbing at his wrists and twisting his fingers together. He wanted - _needed_ \- something, but wasn’t asking. Rex knew better than to push for it though. Jesse would ask in his own time, and not before.

It took several minutes of quiet waiting, but finally, the ARC voiced what was on his mind.

“Will you talk? Please?”

His voice was quiet, just a breath of sound. Rex wouldn’t have heard it if they’d still been in the gunship.

A sad smile tugged at Rex’s expression.

“Of course, _vod_. What would you like to hear about?”

“Anything,” Jesse admitted. “Anything that’s not the war.”

Rex blanked for a second, unsure what else there was to talk about. But then he drew his eyes upward, focussed in on the twinkling stars above them, and had an idea.

“Did you know that Cody’s less than a year older than me?” he asked Jesse quietly. “And when we were little - before we were ever cadets - our batches spent a lot of time together. And Jango would come and teach us things about our people. About Mandalore.”

Jesse didn’t respond, but he stayed tucked into Rex’s side, listening intently.

“I was two and a half when he taught us about the _Ka’ra_. The Stars. The ruling council of fallen kings. When ancient leaders would die, they were said to join the stars in the night sky, becoming members of a guiding council. The leaders that came after them used to pray to the _Ka’ra_ and ask for their wisdom.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Jesse interrupted in true little brother fashion when Rex paused.

Rex laughed.

“Yeah, maybe not,” he agreed. “But there may be some truth to it. After all, our brothers march ahead to keep watch for us, so maybe the ancient kings and queens of old are out there, too…

“But Jango also taught us about the constellations of our _uvet’yaim_ ,” he picked up, giving neither of them enough time to think too hard about the Stars or their brothers.

“Do you remember them?” Jesse asked, playing along.

Rex smirked.

“No,” he answered confidently. “But I bet we can make up better ones anyway.”

Jesse graced him with an amused snort.

“Yeah, maybe…”

Rex scanned the sky, drawing upon what hopefully remained of his childhood imagination. There had to be some shapes up there. Clouds made shapes all the time. Rex could certainly find something in the night sky.

A smattering of stars to his right caught his eye.

“Here,” he said, pointing, “look there. See that grouping, real close together?”

Jesse shifted, pulling his face away from Rex’s shoulder.

“I think so…”

“If you tilt your head a little bit, they look like a loth-cat.”

And they did. Sorta. It only had three legs, and one ear was larger than the other, but Rex thought it could be a loth-cat. If you wanted it to.

Jesse sniffled slightly in the night air. Rex pretended not to notice, but tightened his hold on the trooper anyway.

“Yeah,” the younger agreed wetly. He lifted a shaky hand, pointing out a different grouping of stars just above them. “That looks like two trees, standing together.”

And- well, maybe. Rex didn’t quite see it, but if that’s what Jesse wanted it to be, that was good enough for him.

“They’re pretty…” Jesse sighed.

“They are,” Rex agreed.

They lay together on the grass for Stars only knew how long, pointing out fake constellations and making up names for them. Rex considered it a win when he got Jesse to actually laugh at the idea of a blob of stars being Cody’s scar.

They quieted down when they saw nothing else to point out. When, if they found anything more, it would interfere with the constellations they’d already made.

Rex wished he knew what else he could say.

“Kix would have liked this…” Jesse sighed sadly after a while.

Rex’s heart clenched. They still didn’t know where their medic had gone.

“Yeah, he would have.” He paused. “Fives, too.”

Jesse nodded mutely.

“But we’ll find Kix, Jesse,” Rex assured the younger ARC. “ _Ni haati, vod’ika_.”

“ _Vor’e_ , Rex,” Jesse sighed. “ _Kaysh dayn ogir. Ni na’mi bic_.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, hugging Jesse tighter. “ _Kaysh cuyi_.”

Jesse pulled his arms around Rex in a hug, squeezing his older brother as tight as he could.

“We’ll be okay,” Rex sighed. “I promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Mando'a Translations:  
>  _Vod_ \- brother  
>  _Vod'ika_ \- little brother  
>  _Ori'vod_ \- older brother  
>  _Aliit_ \- family, clan  
>  _Olaro ti ni_ \- Come with me  
>  _Vaii_ \- where  
>  _Mhi morut'yc_ \- We're safe  
>  _Gar morut'yc ti ni_ \- You're safe with me  
>  _Ka'ra_ \- Stars; ancient Mandalorian myth, the ruling council of fallen kings  
>  _Uvet'yaim_ \- home world  
>  _Ni haati_ \- I promise  
>  _Vor'e_ \- thanks  
>  _Kaysh dayn ogir_ \- He's out there  
>  _Ni na'mi bic_ \- I know it  
>  _Kaysh cuyi_ \- He is


End file.
